Chapter 5: First Day as CEO

The next few days Jackson was woken up by Adrian, which was quite a task because it seemed he was attached to the bed he didn’t want to part from it no matter what happened. He was then dressed by Adrian in an expensive blue-looking suit, which Adrian reminded him once again that it was Blake’s favorite color.

Adrian then went to a drawer in a room opening it there were rows and rows of watches. At first glance it was obvious that one of them was more expensive than most houses, there were watches with pure gold and diamonds embedded into them, and there were watches with a silver layout but a slick design with the brand logo of Rolex one of the most recognized watch companies in the world, there were those with a platinum layout and some with a leather skin not as charming as the rest but had an old and Gentleman vibe to it.

“A suit is never complete without a watch. Do well to remember that.”, Adrian said. He gestured to the drawer giving Jackson the choice of picking which watch to wear. Jackson stared at them and was hesitant, he told himself he didn't care about such things and It was foolish to spend an incredible amount of money on mere watches, but that was before he could afford them and he experienced a new feeling he didn’t have before a certain glee of having all of them lined up in front of him mixed with a certain amount of pride.

He picked one at random, it was a platinum watch with a dark background and white hours markers and its glass was in the form of a pentagon. He placed it on his left wrist, feeling Its cold embrace. “Excellent choice young master”, Adrian said. “Now please accompany me to the dining, Its time for your breakfast”

Jackson did as Adrian requested and ended up in the dining. It was massive and glorious just like most things in the mansion. The Dining table was made from dark ebony wood and its width extended from half of the room. The room has chandeliers with numerous gems and even a few diamonds, Its cutlery was made from fine silver and was wrapped with handkerchiefs with the Starkwood family logo sewn onto them with a golden thread.

“Have enough money and you can live as royalty”, Jackson thought. He had been in this dining room many many times, always sitting by the side while Blake mocked him about how he’d never taste food as good as he was eating, sometimes even waving some of it at his face, which Jackson was humiliated to admit did make his stomach growl on numerous occasions.

He sat down on one of the edges of the table with pride and satisfaction like he had just climbed Mount Everest. He waited then Adrian pointed him to a long rectangular piece of paper to his left. Jackson picked it up and to his surprise, it was a menu, with a fancy font written in Gold. Most of it’s orders were things Jackson had never heard about so he asked Adrian about them.

The first order on the menu was ‘white truffle and gold leaf omelet’, according to Adrian it was a lavish omelet garnished with fine herbs and served with a side of caver-topped toast, secondly there was something called ‘lobster benedict’ a meal with poached eggs and succulent lobster tail atop toasted English muffins, all drizzled with a rich, creamy hollandaise sauce. There was another meal called Beluga Caviar and Blinis, It consisted of small pancakes served a lot of their things on atop it. Adrian kept explaining the rest of the orders as they were many, Jackson didn’t understand all Adrian was saying but it word he said sounded so appetizing that he began to drool, he quickly used his arm to clean it. This didn’t go unnoticed as Adrian gave him quite a glare. Jackson looked away out of embarrassment

“I'll take the lobster benedict”, Jackson said. “Very well young master I shall inform the chef”, Adrian said. Half an hour later. A fat man in a chef’s uniform walked towards Jackson holding a small plate then placed it in front of him then bowed his head and left. It was smaller than Jackson had expected to be and far different from what he was used to, honestly he wasn’t sure he was going to enjoy it. He went to pick up the cutlery.  “Remember what we practiced”, Adrian whispered. Jackson nodded.

Adrian was referring to the brief lessons he taught Jackson the previous day. “Fork on the left hand and knife on the right”, Jackson said to himself. He took a piece of his meal, picked it up with the fork, and ate it. Jackson could only come up with one word to describe Its taste, divine. Every other thing he had ever eaten seemed tasteless now compared to this meal from the gods.

He took another bite and then another before you knew it he was done with his meal. He seemed full, the meal may have been small but it definitely filled one’s stomach.

“Now that you’re finished with breakfast you’ll have to go to work. It will be your first time going there as the CEO so good luck. Unfortunately, I cannot help you at least no one brings their butler to work that would be weird”, Adrian said

 “Thank you”, Jackson said. “It’s not bother at all young master but whenever you get back and have some questions about the company, business, investors, or competitors feel free to talk with me. I worked for your father for a long time so I should be able to help you in any of those areas”, Adrian requested. Jackson thanked Adrian once more. “Out of curiosity young master have you thought about what vehicle you’d like to use”, Adrian asked

Jackson thought he’d have the driver him in a limo. “Nonsense when you have so many choices to choose from why not go in style instead”. Adrian stated. He gestured for Jackson to follow him which he did leading them into the garage door. Adrian opened it with a click of a button as the entered in there was darkness obscuring the whole room.

“One second. Lights!”, Adrian yelled. As soon as he did there were rows of light turning on one after another. When it it done Jackson was in white room with dozens of super cars. He had a huge grin reaching the edge of his space. There were muscle cars, sports cars and oldies all lined up in a type of circle row.

“So what will it be sir, If you’re looking for fast and stylish I recommend the Bugatti, we’ve upgraded it to the latest model with tech imbued in it, or if you’re looking for power how about the Camaro or charger we have different modes ranging from the 1970s to the early 2020s ”, Adrian stated

Jackson couldn’t stop grinning he wanted to try out every single one of them, but he suddenly remembered something that brought his mood down. He or rather Blake didn’t have a driver’s license. It was taken away from Blake after he was arrested for a DUI.

“I don’t have a driver’s license remember? ”, Jackson said with a sour expression. “So?!  If you get pulled over by the police just bribe them. It's what your parents did last time”, Adrian said. Jackson was somewhat shocked to hear this not about the Starkwoods bribing the police but that Adrian saw no problem with it. “Oh come now don’t give me that look, you are a Starkwood if money can get you out of a situation use it. So I ask again young master which of these cars will you be driving ”, Adrian stated.

Jackson was conflicted but in the end, took Adrian’s advice. “I’ll take the Camaro”, Jackson said. “Excellent choice, the keys are in the glove compartment”, Adrian said. Entering the Camaro and finding the key, Jackson started the car. Then he could hear a vroom sound, not a regular one this one gave a more powerful feeling like a tiger’s purr. He sat there feeling it for a minute, looking around he found expensive leather and a screen in the middle. It welcomed him with a computer voice.

“Let’s ride”, Jackson said with a grin returning to his face. He stepped on the pedal and sped out of the mansion. It was a thrill leaving the mansion he only went a little ahead of the speed limit but with its vibration and purring Jackson felt like he was in an action movie he knew where he was headed, Starkwood headquarters. Its building was one of the tallest in New York he had driven Blake there a few times, and every time he seemed annoyed or frustrated, and sometimes Blake was completely drunk.

He had never entered the building though, but Adrian claimed he had and directed Jackson on where he needed to go.  He finally arrived, Starkwood automobile company headquarters was truly large and had the Starkwood logo in a metal sign at the very top.

“Well, time to start my job as CEO”, Jackson said looking at the colossal building